Supply and Demand: A Reminder To Sports Fans

It seems that the New Orleans Hornets finally have a problem worth having these days, even though our star player went down, our wings can't play, and we will be on the outside looking in during the playoffs.

It is, of course, the play of our rookies that is setting the league on fire, with Darren Collison and Marcus Thorton ranked amongst the top five rookies in the entire class (and in the latest ESPN rankings they are three and four respectively).

This, of course, has only added fuel to the Hornets' trade fire. Scouring multiple NBA forums over the past few days (I'm moving back to the States soon, so I'll have even more free time here), New Orleans Hornets trade threads compose a good 15 percent of all trade threads spanning four major sites like ESPN and RealGM forums. However, almost all of these aspiring GMs play the same card: "The Hornets are in a weak position and will bend over for my team because we walk on water."

Now if the Hornets are the team with the hot commodities and a HUGE amount of expiring contracts next season, in what way are they in a position of weakness?

If I recall, those with the supply have a little more leverage than those with the need, but then again, economists may be debating that for the next decade or so.

Yes, the Hornets have had a sub-par season, and yes, the playoffs last year were an embarrassment, but thanks to a great draft, everything looks like it's on the rise.

As Ryan posted in his article, teams should be looking at the Hornets as the one with more bargaining power than, say, a Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol trade.

"But what about the fact the two best players play the same position, they must get rid of one!"

Again, we must not do anything at all. Collison is on his rookie contract, after all, and Bower can look at the Phoenix situation from Nash's first stint there for guidance.

Now to be fair, there are a lot of very good ideas out there, like getting Iggy and Andrew Bynum for Okafor, Collison, Peja, etc. But this is just a little article for my fellow sports fans reminding them that the NBA usually and will probably continue to work on the concept of Supply and Demand.